Architecture and the Smart City

Architecture and the Smart City

Author: Sergio M. Figueiredo

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-10-18

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1000706710

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Increasingly the world around us is becoming ‘smart.’ From smart meters to smart production, from smart surfaces to smart grids, from smart phones to smart citizens. ‘Smart’ has become the catch-all term to indicate the advent of a charged technological shift that has been propelled by the promise of safer, more convenient and more efficient forms of living. Most architects, designers, planners and politicians seem to agree that the smart transition of cities and buildings is in full swing and inevitable. However, beyond comfort, safety and efficiency, how can ‘smart design and technologies’ assist to address current and future challenges of architecture and urbanism? Architecture and the Smart City provides an architectural perspective on the emergence of the smart city and offers a wide collection of resources for developing a better understanding of how smart architecture, smart cities and smart systems in the built environment are discussed, designed and materialized. It brings together a range of international thinkers and practitioners to discuss smart systems through four thematic sections: ‘Histories and Futures’, ‘Agency and Control’, ‘Materialities and Spaces’ and ‘Networks and Nodes’. Combined, these four thematic sections provide different perspectives into some of the most pressing issues with smart systems in the built environment. The book tackles questions related to the future of architecture and urbanism, lessons learned from global case studies and challenges related to interdisciplinary research, and critically examines what the future of buildings and cities will look like.


Book Synopsis Architecture and the Smart City by : Sergio M. Figueiredo

Download or read book Architecture and the Smart City written by Sergio M. Figueiredo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-10-18 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasingly the world around us is becoming ‘smart.’ From smart meters to smart production, from smart surfaces to smart grids, from smart phones to smart citizens. ‘Smart’ has become the catch-all term to indicate the advent of a charged technological shift that has been propelled by the promise of safer, more convenient and more efficient forms of living. Most architects, designers, planners and politicians seem to agree that the smart transition of cities and buildings is in full swing and inevitable. However, beyond comfort, safety and efficiency, how can ‘smart design and technologies’ assist to address current and future challenges of architecture and urbanism? Architecture and the Smart City provides an architectural perspective on the emergence of the smart city and offers a wide collection of resources for developing a better understanding of how smart architecture, smart cities and smart systems in the built environment are discussed, designed and materialized. It brings together a range of international thinkers and practitioners to discuss smart systems through four thematic sections: ‘Histories and Futures’, ‘Agency and Control’, ‘Materialities and Spaces’ and ‘Networks and Nodes’. Combined, these four thematic sections provide different perspectives into some of the most pressing issues with smart systems in the built environment. The book tackles questions related to the future of architecture and urbanism, lessons learned from global case studies and challenges related to interdisciplinary research, and critically examines what the future of buildings and cities will look like.

Urban Systems Design

Urban Systems Design

Author: Yoshiki Yamagata

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2020-02-11

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 0128162937

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Urban Systems Design: Creating Sustainable Smart Cities in the Internet of Things Era shows how to design, model and monitor smart communities using a distinctive IoT-based urban systems approach. Focusing on the essential dimensions that constitute smart communities energy, transport, urban form, and human comfort, this helpful guide explores how IoT-based sharing platforms can achieve greater community health and well-being based on relationship building, trust, and resilience. Uncovering the achievements of the most recent research on the potential of IoT and big data, this book shows how to identify, structure, measure and monitor multi-dimensional urban sustainability standards and progress. This thorough book demonstrates how to select a project, which technologies are most cost-effective, and their cost-benefit considerations. The book also illustrates the financial, institutional, policy and technological needs for the successful transition to smart cities, and concludes by discussing both the conventional and innovative regulatory instruments needed for a fast and smooth transition to smart, sustainable communities. Provides operational case studies and best practices from cities throughout Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia, and Africa, providing instructive examples of the social, environmental, and economic aspects of “smartification Reviews assessment and urban sustainability certification systems such as LEED, BREEAM, and CASBEE, examining how each addresses smart technologies criteria Examines existing technologies for efficient energy management, including HEMS, BEMS, energy harvesting, electric vehicles, smart grids, and more


Book Synopsis Urban Systems Design by : Yoshiki Yamagata

Download or read book Urban Systems Design written by Yoshiki Yamagata and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2020-02-11 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban Systems Design: Creating Sustainable Smart Cities in the Internet of Things Era shows how to design, model and monitor smart communities using a distinctive IoT-based urban systems approach. Focusing on the essential dimensions that constitute smart communities energy, transport, urban form, and human comfort, this helpful guide explores how IoT-based sharing platforms can achieve greater community health and well-being based on relationship building, trust, and resilience. Uncovering the achievements of the most recent research on the potential of IoT and big data, this book shows how to identify, structure, measure and monitor multi-dimensional urban sustainability standards and progress. This thorough book demonstrates how to select a project, which technologies are most cost-effective, and their cost-benefit considerations. The book also illustrates the financial, institutional, policy and technological needs for the successful transition to smart cities, and concludes by discussing both the conventional and innovative regulatory instruments needed for a fast and smooth transition to smart, sustainable communities. Provides operational case studies and best practices from cities throughout Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia, and Africa, providing instructive examples of the social, environmental, and economic aspects of “smartification Reviews assessment and urban sustainability certification systems such as LEED, BREEAM, and CASBEE, examining how each addresses smart technologies criteria Examines existing technologies for efficient energy management, including HEMS, BEMS, energy harvesting, electric vehicles, smart grids, and more

Human Smart Cities

Human Smart Cities

Author: Grazia Concilio

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-07-13

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 3319330241

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Within the most recent discussion on smart cities and the way this vision is affecting urban changes and dynamics, this book explores the interplay between planning and design both at the level of the design and planning domains’ theories and practices. Urban transformation is widely recognized as a complex phenomenon, rich in uncertainty. It is the unpredictable consequence of complex interplay between urban forces (both top-down or bottom-up), urban resources (spatial, social, economic and infrastructural as well as political or cognitive) and transformation opportunities (endogenous or exogenous). The recent attention to Urban Living Lab and Smart City initiatives is disclosinga promising bridge between the micro-scale environments, with the dynamics of such forces and resources, and the urban governance mechanisms. This bridge is represented by those urban collaborative environments, where processes of smart service co-design take place through dialogic interaction with and among citizens within a situated and cultural-specific frame.


Book Synopsis Human Smart Cities by : Grazia Concilio

Download or read book Human Smart Cities written by Grazia Concilio and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-13 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within the most recent discussion on smart cities and the way this vision is affecting urban changes and dynamics, this book explores the interplay between planning and design both at the level of the design and planning domains’ theories and practices. Urban transformation is widely recognized as a complex phenomenon, rich in uncertainty. It is the unpredictable consequence of complex interplay between urban forces (both top-down or bottom-up), urban resources (spatial, social, economic and infrastructural as well as political or cognitive) and transformation opportunities (endogenous or exogenous). The recent attention to Urban Living Lab and Smart City initiatives is disclosinga promising bridge between the micro-scale environments, with the dynamics of such forces and resources, and the urban governance mechanisms. This bridge is represented by those urban collaborative environments, where processes of smart service co-design take place through dialogic interaction with and among citizens within a situated and cultural-specific frame.

Smart Cities

Smart Cities

Author: Germaine Halegoua

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2020-02-18

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 0262538059

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Key concepts, definitions, examples, and historical contexts for understanding smart cities, along with discussions of both drawbacks and benefits of this approach to urban problems. Over the past ten years, urban planners, technology companies, and governments have promoted smart cities with a somewhat utopian vision of urban life made knowable and manageable through data collection and analysis. Emerging smart cities have become both crucibles and showrooms for the practical application of the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and the integration of big data into everyday life. Are smart cities optimized, sustainable, digitally networked solutions to urban problems? Or are they neoliberal, corporate-controlled, undemocratic non-places? This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers a concise introduction to smart cities, presenting key concepts, definitions, examples, and historical contexts, along with discussions of both the drawbacks and the benefits of this approach to urban life. After reviewing current terminology and justifications employed by technology designers, journalists, and researchers, the book describes three models for smart city development—smart-from-the-start cities, retrofitted cities, and social cities—and offers examples of each. It covers technologies and methods, including sensors, public wi-fi, big data, and smartphone apps, and discusses how developers conceive of interactions among the built environment, technological and urban infrastructures, citizens, and citizen engagement. Throughout, the author—who has studied smart cities around the world—argues that smart city developers should work more closely with local communities, recognizing their preexisting relationship to urban place and realizing the limits of technological fixes. Smartness is a means to an end: improving the quality of urban life.


Book Synopsis Smart Cities by : Germaine Halegoua

Download or read book Smart Cities written by Germaine Halegoua and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Key concepts, definitions, examples, and historical contexts for understanding smart cities, along with discussions of both drawbacks and benefits of this approach to urban problems. Over the past ten years, urban planners, technology companies, and governments have promoted smart cities with a somewhat utopian vision of urban life made knowable and manageable through data collection and analysis. Emerging smart cities have become both crucibles and showrooms for the practical application of the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and the integration of big data into everyday life. Are smart cities optimized, sustainable, digitally networked solutions to urban problems? Or are they neoliberal, corporate-controlled, undemocratic non-places? This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers a concise introduction to smart cities, presenting key concepts, definitions, examples, and historical contexts, along with discussions of both the drawbacks and the benefits of this approach to urban life. After reviewing current terminology and justifications employed by technology designers, journalists, and researchers, the book describes three models for smart city development—smart-from-the-start cities, retrofitted cities, and social cities—and offers examples of each. It covers technologies and methods, including sensors, public wi-fi, big data, and smartphone apps, and discusses how developers conceive of interactions among the built environment, technological and urban infrastructures, citizens, and citizen engagement. Throughout, the author—who has studied smart cities around the world—argues that smart city developers should work more closely with local communities, recognizing their preexisting relationship to urban place and realizing the limits of technological fixes. Smartness is a means to an end: improving the quality of urban life.

Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence

Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence

Author: Christopher Grant Kirwan

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2020-05-06

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 0128170255

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Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence offers a comprehensive view of how cities are evolving as smart ecosystems through the convergence of technologies incorporating machine learning and neural network capabilities, geospatial intelligence, data analytics and visualization, sensors, and smart connected objects. These recent advances in AI move us closer to developing urban operating systems that simulate human, machine, and environmental patterns from transportation infrastructure to communication networks. Exploring cities as real-time, living, dynamic systems, and providing tools and formats including generative design and living lab models that support cities to become self-regulating, this book provides readers with a conceptual and practical knowledge base to grasp and apply the key principles required in the planning, design, and operations of smart cities. Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence brings a multidisciplinary, integrated approach, examining how the digital and physical worlds are converging, and how a new combination of human and machine intelligence is transforming the experience of the urban environment. It presents a fresh holistic understanding of smart cities through an interconnected stream of theory, planning and design methodologies, system architecture, and the application of smart city functions, with the ultimate purpose of making cities more liveable, sustainable, and self-sufficient. Explores concepts in smart city design and development and the transformation of cities through the convergence of human, machine, and natural systems enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) Includes numerous diagrams to illustrate and explain complex smart city systems and solutions Features diverse smart city examples and initiatives from around the globe


Book Synopsis Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence by : Christopher Grant Kirwan

Download or read book Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence written by Christopher Grant Kirwan and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2020-05-06 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence offers a comprehensive view of how cities are evolving as smart ecosystems through the convergence of technologies incorporating machine learning and neural network capabilities, geospatial intelligence, data analytics and visualization, sensors, and smart connected objects. These recent advances in AI move us closer to developing urban operating systems that simulate human, machine, and environmental patterns from transportation infrastructure to communication networks. Exploring cities as real-time, living, dynamic systems, and providing tools and formats including generative design and living lab models that support cities to become self-regulating, this book provides readers with a conceptual and practical knowledge base to grasp and apply the key principles required in the planning, design, and operations of smart cities. Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence brings a multidisciplinary, integrated approach, examining how the digital and physical worlds are converging, and how a new combination of human and machine intelligence is transforming the experience of the urban environment. It presents a fresh holistic understanding of smart cities through an interconnected stream of theory, planning and design methodologies, system architecture, and the application of smart city functions, with the ultimate purpose of making cities more liveable, sustainable, and self-sufficient. Explores concepts in smart city design and development and the transformation of cities through the convergence of human, machine, and natural systems enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) Includes numerous diagrams to illustrate and explain complex smart city systems and solutions Features diverse smart city examples and initiatives from around the globe

Smart and Sustainable Cities and Buildings

Smart and Sustainable Cities and Buildings

Author: Rob Roggema

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-05-11

Total Pages: 646

ISBN-13: 3030376354

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This book brings together the papers presented at the Smart and Sustainable Built Environments Conference, 2018 (SASBE).This latest research falls into two tracks: smart and sustainable design and planning cities; and the technicalities of smart and sustainable buildings. The growth of smart cities is evident, but not always linked to sustainability. This book gives an overview of the latest academic developments in increasing the smartness and sustainability of our cities and buildings. Aspects such as inclusivity, smart cities, place and space, the resilient city, urbanity and urban ecology are prominently featured in the design and planning part of the book; while energy, educational buildings, comfort, building design, construction and performance form the sub-themes of the technical part of the book. This book will appeal to urban designers, architects, urban planners, smart city designers and sustainable building experts.


Book Synopsis Smart and Sustainable Cities and Buildings by : Rob Roggema

Download or read book Smart and Sustainable Cities and Buildings written by Rob Roggema and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-05-11 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together the papers presented at the Smart and Sustainable Built Environments Conference, 2018 (SASBE).This latest research falls into two tracks: smart and sustainable design and planning cities; and the technicalities of smart and sustainable buildings. The growth of smart cities is evident, but not always linked to sustainability. This book gives an overview of the latest academic developments in increasing the smartness and sustainability of our cities and buildings. Aspects such as inclusivity, smart cities, place and space, the resilient city, urbanity and urban ecology are prominently featured in the design and planning part of the book; while energy, educational buildings, comfort, building design, construction and performance form the sub-themes of the technical part of the book. This book will appeal to urban designers, architects, urban planners, smart city designers and sustainable building experts.

Future City Architecture for Optimal Living

Future City Architecture for Optimal Living

Author: Stamatina Th. Rassia

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-04-01

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 3319150308

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This book offers a wealth of interdisciplinary approaches to urbanization strategies in architecture centered on growing concerns about the future of cities and their impacts on essential elements of architectural optimization, livability, energy consumption and sustainability. It portrays the urban condition in architectural terms, as well as the living condition in human terms, both of which can be optimized by mathematical modeling as well as mathematical calculation and assessment. Special features include: • new research on the construction of future cities and smart cities • discussions of sustainability and new technologies designed to advance ideas to future city developments Graduate students and researchers in architecture, engineering, mathematical modeling, and building physics will be engaged by the contributions written by eminent international experts from a variety of disciplines including architecture, engineering, modeling, optimization, and related fields.


Book Synopsis Future City Architecture for Optimal Living by : Stamatina Th. Rassia

Download or read book Future City Architecture for Optimal Living written by Stamatina Th. Rassia and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-04-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a wealth of interdisciplinary approaches to urbanization strategies in architecture centered on growing concerns about the future of cities and their impacts on essential elements of architectural optimization, livability, energy consumption and sustainability. It portrays the urban condition in architectural terms, as well as the living condition in human terms, both of which can be optimized by mathematical modeling as well as mathematical calculation and assessment. Special features include: • new research on the construction of future cities and smart cities • discussions of sustainability and new technologies designed to advance ideas to future city developments Graduate students and researchers in architecture, engineering, mathematical modeling, and building physics will be engaged by the contributions written by eminent international experts from a variety of disciplines including architecture, engineering, modeling, optimization, and related fields.

Smart Cities

Smart Cities

Author: Schahram Dustdar

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-05-28

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 3319600303

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This book presents a coherent, novel vision of Smart Cities, built around a value-driven architecture. It describes the limitations of the contemporary notion of the Smart City and argues that the next developmental step must actively include not only the physical infrastructure, but information technology and human infrastructure as well, requiring the intensive integration of technical solutions from the Internet of Things (IoT) and social computing. The book is divided into five major parts, the first of which provides both a general introduction and a coherent vision that ties together all the components that are required to realize the vision for Smart Cities. Part II then discusses the provisioning and governance of Smart City systems and infrastructures. In turn, Part III addresses the core technologies and technological enablers for managing the social component of the Smart City platform. Both parts combine state-of-the-art research with cutting-edge industrial efforts in the respective fields. Lastly, Part IV details a road map to achieving Cyber-Human Smart Cities. Rounding out the coverage, it discusses the concrete technological advances needed to move beyond contemporary Smart Cities and toward the Smart Cities of the future. Overall, the book provides an essential overview of the latest developments in the areas of IoT and social computing research, and outlines a research roadmap for a closer integration of the two areas in the context of the Smart City. As such, it offers a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students alike.


Book Synopsis Smart Cities by : Schahram Dustdar

Download or read book Smart Cities written by Schahram Dustdar and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-05-28 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a coherent, novel vision of Smart Cities, built around a value-driven architecture. It describes the limitations of the contemporary notion of the Smart City and argues that the next developmental step must actively include not only the physical infrastructure, but information technology and human infrastructure as well, requiring the intensive integration of technical solutions from the Internet of Things (IoT) and social computing. The book is divided into five major parts, the first of which provides both a general introduction and a coherent vision that ties together all the components that are required to realize the vision for Smart Cities. Part II then discusses the provisioning and governance of Smart City systems and infrastructures. In turn, Part III addresses the core technologies and technological enablers for managing the social component of the Smart City platform. Both parts combine state-of-the-art research with cutting-edge industrial efforts in the respective fields. Lastly, Part IV details a road map to achieving Cyber-Human Smart Cities. Rounding out the coverage, it discusses the concrete technological advances needed to move beyond contemporary Smart Cities and toward the Smart Cities of the future. Overall, the book provides an essential overview of the latest developments in the areas of IoT and social computing research, and outlines a research roadmap for a closer integration of the two areas in the context of the Smart City. As such, it offers a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students alike.

Scaling the Smart City

Scaling the Smart City

Author: Nicole Gardner

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2024-07-22

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0443184534

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Scaling the Smart City: The Design and Ethics of Urban Technology engages with the smart city as a problem of scale. It disentangles the smart city from its corporate and technocratic strong hold by presenting an accessible design framework that productively aligns philosophical thinking on technology with foundational technical understandings of urban technology and smart system design. Scaling the Smart City: The Design and Ethics of Urban Technology complements and mediates between critical social theory perspectives of the smart city and technically comprehensive case studies. It examines these case examples and critiques design prototypes by threading the overarching principles of the smart city through urban, spatial, and personal scales. The knowledge and know-how to design and create urban technologies and smart cities is steadily moving from a niche field to a core industry competency. Scaling the Smart City: The Design and Ethics of Urban Technology outlines a unique cross scalar design framework, developed to teach smart cities design to designers and engineers. It unpacks the "backbox" of smart city initiatives and demystifies physical computing system design concepts. The book’s analysis of real-world case examples and design prototypes aims to demonstrate how design thinking and practice can better engage with the ethical implications of creating urban technologies and smart systems for society. It uses a clear, accessible, and instructive style of writing that synthesizes relevant scholarship and concepts to develop the reader’s foundational understanding of the contemporary smart city paradigm. It also explores the ethical implications of urban technologies and smart city initiatives. This book is an invaluable resource for readers in the established fields and professions of design, architecture, urban design, and city planning as well as the emerging fields of urban technology and urban interaction design. Connects theory and practice to extend understanding of urban technologies and smart cities Leverages real-world case examples and design prototypes to explore critical philosophical and ethical questions around the implications of technology in the urban and built environment Provides an accessible and illustrative guide to technical principles of urban sensing and sense making apparatus foundational to the design of urban technology and smart cities Utilizes visual iconography and diagramming to illustrate urban technology concepts, configurations, sequences, interactivity, and technical systems


Book Synopsis Scaling the Smart City by : Nicole Gardner

Download or read book Scaling the Smart City written by Nicole Gardner and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2024-07-22 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scaling the Smart City: The Design and Ethics of Urban Technology engages with the smart city as a problem of scale. It disentangles the smart city from its corporate and technocratic strong hold by presenting an accessible design framework that productively aligns philosophical thinking on technology with foundational technical understandings of urban technology and smart system design. Scaling the Smart City: The Design and Ethics of Urban Technology complements and mediates between critical social theory perspectives of the smart city and technically comprehensive case studies. It examines these case examples and critiques design prototypes by threading the overarching principles of the smart city through urban, spatial, and personal scales. The knowledge and know-how to design and create urban technologies and smart cities is steadily moving from a niche field to a core industry competency. Scaling the Smart City: The Design and Ethics of Urban Technology outlines a unique cross scalar design framework, developed to teach smart cities design to designers and engineers. It unpacks the "backbox" of smart city initiatives and demystifies physical computing system design concepts. The book’s analysis of real-world case examples and design prototypes aims to demonstrate how design thinking and practice can better engage with the ethical implications of creating urban technologies and smart systems for society. It uses a clear, accessible, and instructive style of writing that synthesizes relevant scholarship and concepts to develop the reader’s foundational understanding of the contemporary smart city paradigm. It also explores the ethical implications of urban technologies and smart city initiatives. This book is an invaluable resource for readers in the established fields and professions of design, architecture, urban design, and city planning as well as the emerging fields of urban technology and urban interaction design. Connects theory and practice to extend understanding of urban technologies and smart cities Leverages real-world case examples and design prototypes to explore critical philosophical and ethical questions around the implications of technology in the urban and built environment Provides an accessible and illustrative guide to technical principles of urban sensing and sense making apparatus foundational to the design of urban technology and smart cities Utilizes visual iconography and diagramming to illustrate urban technology concepts, configurations, sequences, interactivity, and technical systems

The Smart Enough City

The Smart Enough City

Author: Ben Green

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2019-04-09

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0262352257

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Why technology is not an end in itself, and how cities can be “smart enough,” using technology to promote democracy and equity. Smart cities, where technology is used to solve every problem, are hailed as futuristic urban utopias. We are promised that apps, algorithms, and artificial intelligence will relieve congestion, restore democracy, prevent crime, and improve public services. In The Smart Enough City, Ben Green warns against seeing the city only through the lens of technology; taking an exclusively technical view of urban life will lead to cities that appear smart but under the surface are rife with injustice and inequality. He proposes instead that cities strive to be “smart enough”: to embrace technology as a powerful tool when used in conjunction with other forms of social change—but not to value technology as an end in itself. In a technology-centric smart city, self-driving cars have the run of downtown and force out pedestrians, civic engagement is limited to requesting services through an app, police use algorithms to justify and perpetuate racist practices, and governments and private companies surveil public space to control behavior. Green describes smart city efforts gone wrong but also smart enough alternatives, attainable with the help of technology but not reducible to technology: a livable city, a democratic city, a just city, a responsible city, and an innovative city. By recognizing the complexity of urban life rather than merely seeing the city as something to optimize, these Smart Enough Cities successfully incorporate technology into a holistic vision of justice and equity.


Book Synopsis The Smart Enough City by : Ben Green

Download or read book The Smart Enough City written by Ben Green and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-04-09 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why technology is not an end in itself, and how cities can be “smart enough,” using technology to promote democracy and equity. Smart cities, where technology is used to solve every problem, are hailed as futuristic urban utopias. We are promised that apps, algorithms, and artificial intelligence will relieve congestion, restore democracy, prevent crime, and improve public services. In The Smart Enough City, Ben Green warns against seeing the city only through the lens of technology; taking an exclusively technical view of urban life will lead to cities that appear smart but under the surface are rife with injustice and inequality. He proposes instead that cities strive to be “smart enough”: to embrace technology as a powerful tool when used in conjunction with other forms of social change—but not to value technology as an end in itself. In a technology-centric smart city, self-driving cars have the run of downtown and force out pedestrians, civic engagement is limited to requesting services through an app, police use algorithms to justify and perpetuate racist practices, and governments and private companies surveil public space to control behavior. Green describes smart city efforts gone wrong but also smart enough alternatives, attainable with the help of technology but not reducible to technology: a livable city, a democratic city, a just city, a responsible city, and an innovative city. By recognizing the complexity of urban life rather than merely seeing the city as something to optimize, these Smart Enough Cities successfully incorporate technology into a holistic vision of justice and equity.